His feet pounded heavily on the cracked pavement, never pausing as he vaulted obstacles and ran as though his life depended on it. The truth was, it kind of did. If he arrived back at the house on time, then he would be rewarded extravagantly with something his young body craved on a daily basis - sugar.

That single promise, made by his mother, had sent him careening to the store to fetch what she required for her latest batch of culinary disaster. If he managed to get all the ingredients, and be back before six, she had promised to give him a piece of real, sugary, store-bought cake.

Tai had never been so motivated in his life.

Without further delay, he had raced to the store, grabbed what he needed, then booked it out of there as fast as possible, not daring to consider the disappointment awaiting him should he fail at his task.

Barging through the door, Tai flung off his shoes and skidded into the kitchen, where his mother and sister waited, both wearing identical expressions on their face that said, 'Did you get what we needed?'

He thrust the bag onto the counter and watched in anticipation as his mother carefully removed each item, examining them for quality and mentally checking them off of her list. Tai, meanwhile, couldn't help but glance at the pristine cake sitting beside the bag of groceries... how delicious it appeared to be. He could almost taste the sweet, sweet icing and the soft, moist texture of the cake. It was mouthwatering.

Tai's mother gave him a long, hard look and slowly announced, "Everything seems to be there. Good work, Tai."

He rejoiced internally, finally being allowed a decent piece of something made with real sugar. No more funny carrot cakes that tasted like shrimp or cupcakes made with bits of asparagus. Finally.

"Wait," Kari spoke with a frown, "where are the sesame seeds?"

Despair.

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